Free The Fahrenheit Twins by Michel Faber Page A

lamina, mostly along the intercostal regions, on the petiole and the rachis as well as on the leaf sheath, the spathe, the peduncle, the spikes. You will even see them, if you peer closely, on this young ovary, partially exposed in this picture. You will see them everywhere, in fact. They vary in shape, size and in the intensity of their occurrence in different organs. They are imbued with certain substances that are poisonous to insects.’
    As she says this, some of the men fancy they detect a sardonic twitch at the edges of her lips, a venomous aftertaste in the honey of her voice. She clicks her fingers, and the screen offers another close-up.
    ‘These leaves, as you can see, arrange themselves so that the periphery of the spear is composed of the margins of leaflets with their special protective thickening. The hairy outgrowths’ (she sweeps her orange fingernails towards the image) ‘also provide physical impediments to any young larvae that may be trying to affix themselves to the leaf.’
    From somewhere in the audience comes a single, bronchial cough. Miss Soedhono turns her head to find the man responsible. Sixty-six pairs of eyes blink innocently, for although each man longs for Miss Soedhono to look at him and him only, he fears it too, especially if it should be for the wrong reason. Most terrifying of all would be if she observed him lurching fumblingly out of his seat, a victim of indigestion or a shameful lapse of continence. So, they all sit tight, affecting impassivity, oozing sweat, their eyes wide and bloodshot, while Miss Soedhono continues her lecture, moving on to the subject of parasites.
    ‘There may be those among you,’ she says, folding her exquisite hands together in an interleaving of bright nails and dark flesh, ‘who believe in the myth, the lie , perpetuated by naturalists, that the coconut crab is capable of nipping a fruit, peeling off its husk, fibre by fibre, and breaking open the shell through the soft eye, in order to make a meal of the endosperm.’
    Again she gestures, a mere nod this time, and images of crustaceans materialise on the screen, extraterrestrial-looking creatures with orange highlights on their turd-brown armour, as though Miss Soedhono herself had lovingly decorated them with her nail-polish.
    ‘Examine, if you will, these infra-red exposures of the coconut crab, Birgus latro , pictured with coconuts in various states of development, including young fruits with soft exteriors, and even one ripe nut from which the husk had been temptingly stripped. No penetrations were made.’
    Miss Soedhono raises her chin, somewhat defiantly, and rests her hands on her waist, her fingers hooked over the sharp curves of her hips, which protrude through her tunic. Her arms are thin. She breathes in, and her bosom swells slightly, the gold of the brocade glittering as the silken fabric adjusts its purchase on the flesh beneath.
    Does she notice what effect her stance is having on her audience? Her unblinking eyes survey the men as if they were no more than wooden puppets, carved ceremonial effigies arranged in rows. Indeed they have done their best to maintain such composure, but the provocation is too great. Flesh must move.
    Miss Soedhono raises one hand off her hip. This time the click of her fingers is audible. The image on the video screen dissolves and is replaced by a startling picture of curdled fluid, ever-so-slightly out of focus.
    ‘When a tapped inflorescence is cut off close to the stem,’ she says, serene in her self-possession, ‘the flow continues for some time, reducing only gradually. Bleeding is strictly polar. At the cut-off lower surface of the inflorescence, not even a drop of the fluid appears, no matter how the inflorescence is positioned.’
    To illustrate her argument, Miss Soedhono walks up to the video screen and touches the glass with her taloned forefinger, indicating first this example, then that. Her long skirt which, during the three or four steps